With recent advances in digital transmission technology, subscriber television systems are now capable of providing much more than traditional analog broadcast video. In implementing enhanced programming, the subscriber terminal, such as a set top box or terminal, has become an important computing device for accessing media content services (and media content within those services) and for navigating a user through a maze of available services. In addition to supporting traditional analog broadcast video functionality, digital subscriber terminals now also support an increasing number of two-way or interactive digital services such as video-on-demand (VOD), switched digital video (SDV), high-definition (HD) broadcast, high-speed data, VoIP, Interactive TV, and the like.
One way to support two way digital services such as those mentioned above is to utilize a session manager for each different service that is available. The session managers will negotiate with the edge devices (e.g., a digital modulator such as a QAM modulator) to allocate resources required for the sessions that will deliver their respective digital services. The edge devices need to dynamically allocate network resources (e.g., bandwidth) in order to establish the sessions with the subscribers, typically over an access network. Originally, the network and edge devices were typically “hardwired” or associated with a specific digital service. That is, each edge devices was dedicated to a particular digital service.
One significant competitive challenge that network operators face on an ongoing basis relates to managing and conserving bandwidth. This includes the reclamation of otherwise under-utilized or unused bandwidth such that the service and/or customer base can be expanded without significant modifications or build-outs of the underlying network infrastructure. In this respect an arrangement in which edge devices are associated with a specific digital service is often unsatisfactory. For instance, if a particular digital service is not popular or has a varying degree of popularity during the course of a day or week, some of the edge device resources will be wasted since they can only support that particular service. Additionally, during times of peak demand, the network may not have enough edge device resources available, causing a service delivery failure.
To overcome this problem an edge resource manager has recently been introduced, which allows edge device resources to be shared among different digital services. This arrangement allows the network to better manage variations in service popularity. If usage of one service spikes, the edge resource manager can pool resources from other edge devices currently assigned to less popular services to handle the spikes. Despite this improvement resulting from the use of the edge resource manager, network operators continue to focus on techniques for utilizing as efficiently as possible the full capacity of their existing networks.